LIFELONG SCHOLAR AND AGENT OF CHANGE

Academic scholarship. Mentoring. Community leadership. Teaching. Research. It seems that Bryan O. Buckley, Spartan in public health, has accomplished it all. But he’s really just getting started. For Buckley, public health is his vehicle to make the world better.

Buckley, a lifelong scholar and an agent of change, is a first-generation American citizen. Buckley credits his Antiguan family’s work ethic and academic accomplishments with his drive to constantly pursue further knowledge. “Stay hungry. Public health is not an easy field to be in. You’re up against a lot of big systems. And even if you fail, remember that only through failure can we ever truly innovate. And I think in public health we constantly have to do that.

After receiving his B.S. from MSU in microbiology, Buckley considered a

career in medical technology until one of his professors suggested going into public health might be a better fit for his outgoing personality. Heeding her advice, he enrolled in an epidemiology course and entered MSU’s MPH program the year after. Buckley has a three-pronged tenet he shares with others:

Stay Hungry. Stay Curious. Stay Humble.

“Stay curious. As new technologies are coming about — telemental health, social media — how can public health be integrated into this? We should be curious not just about the field of public health but other fields that intersect public health. We need to be curious about how we can integrate these in a more seamless way.

“And of course, be humble. We are only a small piece in this world, and when it comes to large-scale change, we need others. This field requires a team, a community of people you have to be part of; it’s not about you.”